Latest Gear Live Videos

Despite Nintendo packaging the Wii as an internet-ready and capable device, they seem to still drag their feet whenever it comes to online gaming. The latest evidence of this is the eerie quiet surrounding the online features of the upcoming Guitar Hero III, broken by The Bits Bytes Pixels and Sprites when they contacted a Red Octane PR specialist, Bryan Lam about what Guitar Hero III will be like online with the Wii. He distressingly told BBPS, “We’re working closely with Nintendo for an online solution, though at the moment we’re unable to confirm the status of the online multi-player.”

Considering the other GHIII versions are all set to have online modes and there ought not to be any technical hurdles, this can really only mean Nintendo is having a hard time letting go of the secret to their ultimate online strategy which is so secret not even the consumers can figure out what it is. Online versus and co-op modes may be bad enough as possible omissions from the Wii version, but a follow-up from BBPS suggests that the same hurdles exist for downloadable content as well. While it’s difficult to determine why Nintendo would want to feature-deprive third party developers from online action, it’s even less comprehensible why they would cut off money-making endeavors like song packs as well.

We’ve been getting to many questions from readers as to different iPhone features that we figured it was time for us to try and answer just about all of them with a video. This is our Ultimate iPhone Feature Walkthrough. We look at each and every feature of the iPhone, including all of the sub-options in each. Going through the list, that includes everything from SMS, to YouTube, straight through to the new iPod functionality. Oh, and the phone too.

So yesterday we let you know that YouTube is now on Apple TV. We decided to put together a gallery showing off the slick YouTube interface that Apple put together to turn YouTube into a living room experience. We show you everything, from downloading the update, to the menu system, to our YouTube username (hint: it’s gearlive - subscribe to us!). As we said yesterday, YouTube videos on Apple TV are encoded in H.264 format, so they are very watchable - even in the ten foot experience. Click on for the full gallery, which includes 15 images.

Another week, another boatload of new and returning reality shows. Here are some thoughts:

As I type I’m watching The Next Best Thing, so you can tell just how into the show I am. So, evidently, this show is about finding the greatest celebrity impersonator. You know how everybody’s been saying that we need a new great celebrity impersonator? Oh, wait, nobody’s been saying that at all. The last time we had a celebrity impersonator on tv it was ... wait, don’t tell me ... oh, I remember. It was Rich Little at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner. It was, well, just as excruciatingly awful as this show.

There was just a montage of Frank Sinatra impersonators on the show, that’s how bad it is. Ooh, and someone just said, “I make part of my living as a Gloria Estefan impersonator.” Evidently 0% equals a “part.” (Okay, I had a much ruder joke in here before that seemed far less mean when I was annoyed by watching this show. It’s gone now because, evidently, I have a desperate need to be liked. Or at least not hated. Apologies.)

It seems to be that we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel on competitive reality shows. Yes, networks, the world needs more singers, fashion designers, chefs, and supermodels. But I don’t know if we need more Rich Littles and Bret Ratners (haven’t seen On The Lot, not planning to).

So obviously, we at Gear Live are fans of new camera technology and the selective focus Lensbabies SLR lenses certainly fit the bill. We were already familiar with their selective focus lenses for digital cameras in the form of their second generation (2G) Lensbaby, but they were kind enough to provide us with one of their brand new 3G Lenbabies for review.

The Lensbaby is a bellows style lens for modern SLR cameras. They feature low dispersion multi-coated optical glass lens mounted within a flexible rubber tube to allow the photographer to tilt the lens side to side as well as compress it closer to the camera. Much like cameras from 100 years ago or more focusing is accomplished by simply compressing the bellows to move the lens closer or further away from the camera. We have a full, in-depth review for you, after the break.

While on the monorail coming back from CES we interviewed Larry. He’s here in Las Vegas for CES because he is a home theater enthusiast. He wants to know if Blue-ray or HD-DVD will win in the format war - what do you think?

While every new system gets its fare share of hate, I’ve gotten especially annoyed at those that say the PSP needs more support from developers. The past few months have seen an explosion of fine games on PSP spanning many genres, and at this point the system probably has the most solid new software line-up heading into this Christmas season. Today, I decided to give folks a look at one of the newer releases which came as a surprise to me, but a pleasant one nontheless.